1 jÅ (ç) = 180x90 cm = 1.62 m^2.
The Japanese conversion tables I have found at
http://www.teaching-english-in-japan.net/conversion/japanese_jo
gives a slightly different value; namely, 1.53 m^2. But there seems to be some understanding that the jo is not an accurately define unit of area.
Previous messages referred to an area of a tatami. Apparently the jo is the area unit. The tatami is the name for a kind of mat which is a specific, traditional size. That size is 1 jo in area.
Apparently floors were (are?) traditionally covered by these mats and room sizes, therefore, are measured by how many tatami mats will cover the floor. Since each tatami is 1 jo in area, this gives the floor area in units of jo.
Someone correct me if you know otherwise, but I get the impression that measuring rooms in jo (in tatami mats) is about more than just total area. The tatami mats are always about the same length and width so the number of mats that will cover the floor of a room also limits the relative dimensions of the room as well as specifying the area of the floor space. Four tatami mats can fill a rectangular room only in a limited number of ways.
It seems that there are other weird units in the world besides Ye Olde English ones. Long live SI !
Regards,
Bill Hooper
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
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Make it simple; Make it Metric
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